Complete a Half Ironman
Prepare for a 70.3-mile triathlon through months of balanced endurance, fueling practice, transitions, and disciplined pacing.
Ask Murph to help
A Half Ironman, or 70.3, commonly combines a 1.9-kilometer swim, 90-kilometer bike, and 21.1-kilometer run. Finishing each sport on its own is not enough. You need durable multisport weeks, a bike effort that spares the run, a fueling plan that holds up for hours, and practiced open-water and transition skills.
Choose the specific event first. Course elevation, water conditions, heat, drafting rules, aid, and cutoffs shape the plan.
What to do
- Bring a stable Olympic-distance or equivalent endurance base into a dedicated block.
- Train each discipline regularly, usually with the most time on the bike, the longest leg.
- Keep most work easy and limit the total number of hard sessions across all sports.
- Build long rides, long runs, and open-water competence without peaking all three in the same week.
- Practice bike-to-run bricks and event-specific fueling repeatedly.
- Rehearse equipment, flat repair, transition order, pacing, and course rules.
- Protect sleep and eat enough as volume grows.
A simple plan
Use a 16- to 24-week block depending on experience. A representative week has two swims, three rides, three runs, and one strength session, with one ride-run brick. Several of these are short technique or recovery touchpoints.
Build the long ride toward three to five hours and the long run toward 90 to 120 minutes, adjusted for pace and injury history. Do regular bricks, starting with ten to 20 easy run minutes after a ride and working toward a longer course-relevant rehearsal.
Use one primary quality session a week, and a second only when recovery allows. Long rides are the main laboratory for carbohydrate, fluids, sodium, equipment, and pacing. Practice with the exact products available on course, or whatever you'll carry.
Two to four weeks out, do a reduced-distance simulation, then taper progressively. Start the swim calmly, hold back on early bike climbs and tailwinds, and start the run below your standalone half-marathon effort.
How to know it is working
Long rides and bricks become predictable instead of chaotic. You can fuel without repeated stomach failure, hold a steady bike effort, and settle into running afterward. Open-water and transition decisions become familiar.
Readiness is months of that evidence plus current health. A watch's predicted time cannot replace it.
If you get stuck
If the run keeps falling apart, reduce bike intensity and look at fueling before adding run volume. If fatigue accumulates, remove intensity and shorten secondary sessions. If one discipline is technically weak, coaching may do more than extra hard conditioning.
Persistent performance decline, recurrent injuries, menstrual disruption, low mood, poor sleep, or frequent illness can signal too little energy or recovery. Adjust the training demand rather than forcing the calendar.
Check the organizer's current cutoff structure as well as the total finish cutoff. In a rehearsal, estimate conservative swim, transition, and bike times so the run plan reflects the real clock. Rules and course details can change between editions of the same event.
